


A Gesture of Trust

by JynErsoinNYC



Category: Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
Genre: Character Study, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Extended Scene, F/F, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I found my will to live, Internal Conflict, Namaari is a sapphic QUEEN, Spoilers, Trust Issues, also, but I have zero regrets, enemies exchanging letters needs to become a trope, when Raya called her Princess Undercut...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-19 06:22:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29870484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JynErsoinNYC/pseuds/JynErsoinNYC
Summary: For the first time in her life, Namaari was conflicted.
Relationships: Namaari/Raya (Disney)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 200





	A Gesture of Trust

For the first time in her life, Namaari was conflicted. She did not like the feeling, the warring in her head, in her heart.

The hour was late. Far beneath her tower the city slept, as well as it could while the Drunn stalked the mainland. The night air drifting in from the three arched windows across her room was warm, and Namaari sat on the edge of her bed, still dressed, still thinking.

Sisu – alive. Awake. Raya _had_ found her, and together they were seeking the gem pieces to unite the shards and banish the Drunn.

Guilt twisted inside Namaari’s chest. She had thought Raya selfish, of wanting the gem pieces for her own use. But that had really been Namaari’s intention; to intercept Raya in Spine, take the gem pieces, and use them to expand Fang’s borders.

She sighed into the quiet.

A throb of pain and Namaari cupped her hand, kneading the ache from the blow she had dealt Raya in Spine. She had been ready to unleash herself upon Raya, for reasons she was afraid did not stem further than her own, secret frustrations when it came to her nemesis.

Then Sisu, wreathed in rainbow fog, bearing down upon her. Namaari had been speechless, unable to move, to think, to do anything except feel her walls – her world – come crashing down around her. There had been no fear of the teeth bared at her, no flinching against the growl ringing in her ears. Only shock, realisation, awe.

After that fight…after Sisu, Namaari had ridden home to Fang with new purpose – new hope – certain her mother would see things the same way. They would give their piece of the gem to Sisu, Kumandra would be saved, and all would finally be made right. She had not expected another ploy to turn the situation to Fang’s advantage.

Her own foolish naivety.

Because her mother was right, Namaari knew. Fang was at fault, and they _would_ be the target of the other lands’ fury once their strength was restored. It had to be Fang – it had to be her – who fixed this mess, who fixed _her_ mess.

So, why did this still feel wrong?

A chittering noise interrupted her spiralling thoughts.

Namaari frowned at her windows, surprised when something landed on the sill with a thump. “Huh?”

She descended the steps from her bed and went over, feet bare on the marble floor. The object was small and square, wrapped in soft, red cloth. A slip of paper was attached with string.

Warily, Namaari opened the folded note.

_If you truly wish to save Kumandra, meet me on the mainland. Bring the gem piece._

_I await your signal,_

_Raya._

Namaari glanced out the window, disbelieving, then looked down at the package. She unwrapped the material, and-

She stilled.

Her pendant was nestled inside. Exactly as Namaari had gifted it to Raya six years ago. She carefully picked it up, the childhood treasure she had parted with to secure a better future for Fang, never expecting to see again. Sisu, rendered in mottled gold, her body curved around a blue sapphire.

Namaari peered out the window again, but only the quiet night looked back in.

Her doubt grew. She was not sure what to feel, discovering Raya had kept this. Knowing it was now being returned to her, seemingly in a gesture of trust.

Should she – _could_ she – accept it?

“Namaari!”

Her name echoed in the corridor outside her rooms, and the doors burst open a moment later. Virana entered, flanked by her general and three guards. When she located Namaari by the windows she breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “Namaari, my love.”

“Mother?” Namaari was instantly at her mother’s side. “What happened?”

Virana clenched her sceptre. “Guards were found incapacitated, several of them leading to your rooms. Are you hurt?”

“No, I…” Namaari frowned, looking down at the pendant in her hand, the note from Raya.

“What is that?”

Namaari found her mother staring at the pendant. She had a brief, strange urge to close her fingers around it, to brush off the question, but–

“Our way to the dragon,” she said instead, hating herself, hating the words but unable to stop them.

Virana read the note, then met her daughter’s eye. There lay scheming and pride and sanction for Namaari to do what she did best.

_For Fang,_ Namaari told herself when the plan had been set in motion. A thought once fierce, turned bitter.

_For Kumandra,_ she tried again, and felt only marginally better.


End file.
